IIT Varanasi students create ‘helmet’ to curb drunken driving

To make roads safer for motorcyclists, a team of five students from IIT Varanasi is working on a unique device. The smart helmet makes it mandatory for the motorist to wear the helmet and have a permissible alcohol breath level to start the motorbikeDebashis Sarkar | TOI Tech | April 24, 2016, 09:34 IST

NEW DELHI: To make roads safer for motorcyclists, a team of five students from IIT Varanasi is working on a unique device. The team is developing a smart helmet connected with the motorbike that aims to prevent drunken driving.

The smart helmet makes it mandatory for the motorist to wear the helmet and have a permissible alcohol breath level to start the motorbike.

The IIT Varanasi team lead by Naman Singhal and comprising Shubham Jaiswal, Rishabh Babeley, Devendra Gupta and Jagjeet Shyamkunwar.

“The uniqueness of the solution being that a particular two-wheeler can only be switched on with a particular helmet and without which the two-wheeler cannot be started thus making it safe from theft also,” explained a team member.

In case of an accident the helmet sends the location of the victim to the ambulance and family members. This is enabled through a cloud server which will process the data and provide immediate medical help to the victim.

“This instigates a feeling of protection in parents’ minds about their children travelling on roads,” they said.